The Beloved Son is a remarkable play inspired by the life of Henri Nouwen, written by acclaimed playwright Murray Watts and performed by Andrew Harrison. The Beloved Son tells the gripping emotional journey of Henri Nouwen. In a moving solo performance by Andrew Harrison, the play explores hope and longing, family dynamics, sexual and emotional crisis, and the profound insights of a man who became one of the greatest spiritual writers of the 20th century.
Henri Nouwen (1932 – 1996) was a Dutch, Catholic priest, psychologist, and professor who reached the heights of academic success before abandoning everything to join the community of L’Arche, in Toronto. He became part of a life-sharing movement, seeking to make known the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities, exploring their unique talents and creating a welcoming home of friendship and belonging. To some Henri Nouwen put his brilliant career into reverse, risking the loss of reputation, to others his life was a prophetic challenge to church and society.
Credits
Murray Watts is best known as a playwright and screenwriter. His work as a writer in TV, radio, film and theatre has won awards and received critical acclaim.
He is the writer of many screenplays which include The Dream, starring Jeremy Irons (BBC 2) and the feature film The Miracle Maker (BBC/S4C/ICON) which was released to international acclaim in 2000 and was ABC network’s highest rated movie for Easter 2000/1. He was the screenwriter for KJB – The Book That Changed the World (1A PRODUCTIONS/DISCOVERY CHANNEL/BBC SCOTLAND). KJB was awarded the Movie Guide Epiphany Prize for the most inspirational Programme on US TV in 2011.
He has also written and directed many plays over the last 40 years, including the award-winning The Fatherland for Bush Theatre in 1989 (which he later adapted as The Monday Play for BBC Radio 4). The King’s Head Theatre in London staged a season of four of his plays, throughout January 2012, including Mr. Darwin’s Tree. Mr. Darwin’s Tree was originally commissioned to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and was premiered in Westminster Abbey. The play has been performed in many countries, including China, South Korea, and throughout the US.
He is currently the screenwriter for several feature films in development, including Power and Glory a film about Michael Faraday.
Murray Watts is the founder and director of The Wayfarer Trust, an international arts charity offering support and encouragement to people in the world of arts and media (www.wayfarertrust.org)
He lives at Freswick Castle in the far north of Scotland, which is a haven for visiting artists from around the world (www.freswickcastle.com)
Andrew Harrison
Andrew began his career with Riding Lights Theatre Co. in 1980.
He made his repertory debut in Exeter playing the leads in A Chorus of Disapproval and Serious Money. Other theatre credits include Glyn and It with Dame Penelope Keith on national tour, the premier production of Peter Nichols’ Blue Murder and the West End production of Pinero’s Trelawny of the Wells with the late Sir Michael Hordern. Andrew is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s drama department.
Film credits: An Ideal Husband, Dorian Grey, The Sea Change and A Little Loving.
For TV: The Life of Pepys, Miss Marple, You Rang M’Lord? The Bill, Birds of a Feather, Beyond Narnia and Summer in Transylvania. With Murray Watts he has created six solo shows, among them Mr. Darwin’s Tree which premiered in Westminster Abbey in 2008.
The show has subsequently toured extensively in the USA and has been presented in colleges in Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Nairobi and throughout the UK. “Fire From Heaven” – the life of Michael Faraday – opened in Oxford in 2021 and has since also toured in the USA. The Beloved Son is their latest collaboration.
“ a deeply moving and thought-provoking portrayal of Henri Nouwen”
“I was bowled over by the Beloved Son, by its beautifully written, elegantly crafted narrative, and by the breath-taking tour de force of the performance.”
“Andrew Harrison's interpretation of Murray Watts' The Beloved Son delivered not merely theatre, but a meditation on faith, vulnerability, and the courage to abandon worldly success for a deeper calling. Harrison's portrayal of Henri Nouwen—the Dutch Catholic priest and psychologist who forsook academic acclaim to serve those with intellectual disabilities—possessed an almost sacramental quality. From his first unassuming entrance Harrison held the audience in rapt attention throughout the 75-minute monologue. What elevates this performance beyond technical mastery is Harrison's ability to communicate the ineffable. His embodiment of Nouwen's spiritual crisis—the wrestling with sexuality, family expectations, and ecclesiastical authority—conveyed with sublime authenticity the terrible beauty of a soul in search of its true purpose. In Harrison's hands, Nouwen's decision to work with the intellectually disabled in the L'Arche community becomes not a self-abnegation but a spiritual awakening. This is performance as pastoral care, and theatre as spiritual discipline. Harrison has accomplished a feat akin to artistic transcendence—a theatrical masterpiece that delves into the most profound enquiries of human purpose. In an age of spiritual hunger, The Beloved Son offers not answers but the more valuable gift of meaningful questioning.” Andrew Palmer – The Yorkshire Times
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